Magellan Maestro 3250 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Magellan Maestro 3250 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Manufacturer: Magellan
The Magellan Maestro 3250 provides the best navigation experience possible at a highly affordable price. It features a new ultra-thin design and a highly intuitive user interface that guides drivers to their destination via voice and on-screen prompts. Advanced, easy-to-use features include voice command and control, live traffi c reports, built-in AAA travel information, and much more.
Amazon.com Product Description -- November 13, 2007:
We've been big fans of Magellan's Maestro line since it came out in early 2006. The Maestro interface is incredibly easy to use, even for those who are not completely comfortable with electronics. At the same time, Magellan was ahead of the industry with useful innovations like multi-destination routing and pre-loaded reviews for points of interest like hotels and restaurants (from AAA). With its 3200 and 4200 series, Magellan has improved the Maestro line giving them a SirfStar III chipset that provides super-fast. satellite lock and making them thinner. In fact, at .7 inches, these are -- at the time of this writing (November 2007), the thinnest portable GPS navigators available. Distingushing between models is also fairly easy.
3200 and 4200 Family of Navigators
Distingushing between models is also fairly easy. The 3200-series navigators feature a 3.5-inch screen, while the 4200s have a 4.3-inch widescreen display. The 3200 and 4200 offer great, basic navigation with turn-by-turn spoken directions, pre-loade maps of the 48 contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and 1.3 million POIs. The 3210 and 4210, add maps for Canada and Alaska, AAA travel information (see details below) and bump you up to 6 million POIs. The 3220 and 4220 add maps of Mexico. The top-of-the-line 3250 and 4250 add a host of other features, including text-to-speech directions that give real street names, bluetooth for hands-free phone calls, integrated traffic (with a free 3-month subscription), and voice command.
What Makes the Maestro 3250 Exceptional?
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 Easy to use navigation features SmartDetour and auto re-route. View larger. |
 Access built-in AAA information from your GPS touch screen. View larger. |
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The intuitive user interface makes the Maestro series incredibly easy to use. Use the big icons on the 3.5-inch touch screen to search for your destination by address, intersection, or any of 6 million points of interest (POIs), including restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, and more. You can even touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination, see name and address, and get an instant route. Turn by turn visual and spoken directions guide you every step of the way.
Auto re-route gets you quickly back on track whenever you make a detour or miss a turn. QuickSpell feature intelligently searches and checks spelling when you enter addresses. The 3250 offer multiple view options, including 2D, 3D, and TrueView that shows your upcoming turn using a 3D split screen. Maneuver List displays the full turn-by-turn details of your route. Auto night view adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing.
 Click to see a video on the Magellan Maestro 3250's Voice Command system. |
Voice Command further enables hands-free operation so you can keep your eyes on the road. Say a command to access the most used navigation functions. Find the nearest coffee, restaurant, gas and ATM or get an instant route home. Plus, you can ask for your location, the distance to your destination and quickly get details for the nearest roadside assistance and more, all with the sound of your voice.
AAA-enabled
With built-in AAA travel information, the Maestro 4250 gives you instant access to the most trusted source for trip planning, searchable AAA TourBook listings, Show Your Card & Save locations for member discounts, approved auto repair facilities, attractions, events, and more. The Maestro 3250 also provides AAA members roadside assistance details, with exact location and a toll-free number. Plus, the Maestro 3250 is Bluetooth-enabled so you can connect your Bluetooth cell phone directly to AAA for immediate help when you need it most.
Note: AAA member roadside assistance requires AAA membership.
Bluetooth for Hands-Free Calling
The Maestro 3250's Bluetooth wireless technology lets you make hands-free phone calls with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. You can store or sync numbers and contact information through the easy-to-use touch screen, and even place calls directly through the Maestro 3250's integrated microphone and speakers.
Integrated Real-Time Traffic
The integrated traffic receiver offers onscreen RDS-TMC traffic incident reports in real-time. A free 3-month traffic service subscription makes it easy to avoid accidents, slow downs, road closures, severe weather and more. Your Maestro 3250 automatically recalculates your estimated time of arrival based on traffic conditions and prompts you to reroute when a quicker way is available.
 One of the thinnest portable GPS navigators on the market |
The 3250 is super-thin, lightweight and fits easily into any pocket. The integrated rechargeable battery enables you to operate the Maestro 3250 away from your vehicle for up to three hours. The battery recharges while driving via the included vehicle power adapter.
Tons of Data
The 3250 comes pre-loaded with Navteq maps of the United States and Canada, and 6 million points of interest (POIs). POI data includes telephone numbers and addresses.
It also has an Address Book in which you can create and store POIs and addresses that you use frequently.
Flexible Routing
The 3250 provides a particularly large number of routing features relevant to its price point. Multi-destination routing lets you select up to 20 destinations and find the best route to get to all of them. SmartDetour prompts you to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic.Customizable route methods let you choose between several different routing methods, including "Fastest Time", "Shortest Distance", "Least or Most Use of Freeways", and "Avoid Toll Roads". Route exclusion lets you pick streets and freeways you want to avoid.
Magellan Maestro 3250 GPS receiver, Adhesive disk for dash mounting, Basic cradle, Vehicle power adapter (12-24 watts), Quick reference guide and CD, Windshield mount
Optional Accessories
AC Wall power supply/charger, USB data cable
About Magellan
Magellan is a leader in the consumer, survey, GIS, and OEM GPS navigation and positioning markets. Recognized as an industry innovator, the Company is the creator of the award-winning Magellan RoadMate series and the Magellan Maestro portable car navigation systems, the Magellan eXplorist and the Magellan Triton outdoor handheld navigation devices, and the Hertz NeverLost car navigation system, the best-selling single frequency GPS survey product line on the market. The Magellan Maestro series includes such unique features as built-in AAA travel information and voice command and control driving which no other portable GPS manufacturer in the U.S. or Canada offers. The company is recognized worldwide through its Magellan brand and has experienced dramatic revenue growth as GPS technology has proliferated across a range of consumer and commercial applications. The Company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California with European headquarters in Carquefou, France.
Lowest Used Price: USD 93.56
Lowest New Price: USD 139.95
Lowest Refurbished Price: USD 83.45
- 3.5-inch QVGA full-color, anti-glare, touch-screen display
- 6 Million Searcheable Points of Interest:
- AAA TourBook guide travel information
- SmartDetour prompts drivers to route around heavy or stopped freeway traffic
- Newly designed, intuitive user interface makes the Maestro series the easiest to use
Model: Magellan Maestro 3250
It placed me where I needed
The Magellan only had small malfunctions such as signal not working as fast as I want but really it works fine. Not the classiest look, but it gets me where I want. I wouldn't know where to go if it wasn't for it.
Misleading Free Map Update Policy
I thought buying brand new unit would give you up to one year free map update. But no, I was told you have to request the Free Map Update within 1 month's purchase. After that, you will need to pay for it.
I would not buy another Magellan.
Very Reliable GPS
I had this for almost 8 months now and I love it. Make sure you update to the latest firmware, it got lot of changes, minor GUI improvement, POI searching, and it is cool. There is no difference in features than this and 4250, the only different is the screen size. It is compact, small, very to use. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS!
Good Product
Works great out of the box. Windshield mount is excellent. The maps and text-to-speech directions accurate. Upgraded to latest firmware with no issues. Order thru web late on a Sunday and it arrived on Tuesday with regular shipping. One negative is that a new gps unit is shipped with old maps. Each new gps unit should have a voucher for the newest map upgrade. The 3250 is recommended.
Good unit for the price
I want to start with the fact that Magellan Customer support is not that bad. I personally called near 10 times recently and never had to stay on the line more than a few minutes before someone picked up. Sometimes, it was even right away.
Also, if you are buying this item new, I suggest Amazon itself rather than the amazon market place. This gets crucial when you want to receive free map update or similar services from Magellan as they recognize Amazon a retailer and consider some market place sellers third party.
As for the map update, I purchased a maestro unit from Amazon and even before I receive the unit in mail I had Magellan ship the map update software! The process is relatively easy. You will only need to forward them the purchase confirmation email from Amazon and they essentially do the rest. I only paid the shipping cost as I called them within the 30 days of purchase of my unit. The downside with the map update of Magellan is that unlike some other companies they do not offer free map update for refurbished units. Even if they are purchased from authorized retailers like Amazon.
About the unit: The fact that Maestro 3250 has 6 million points of interest is a big advantage. Other models in this series, like 3200 and 3225 only have 1.3 million POIs which is a big difference.
The bluetooth is a nice feature.
About text-to-speach, I am thinking how units without this feature even sell! With text to speach you will not really need to look at the screen which is a plus during driving.
The voice command feature is still in its basic stages, but is good to have and gives me a good feeling specially when I want to get back home(by just saying "Magellan! Go home!")
There is a 3 month free membership for traffic update(even if you buy a refurbished item you still get it). This feature is very cool as you can have your unit re-route automatically whenever there is accident in your path to destination. The unit automatically receives traffic related news and shows it with a red sign on the bottom right of the screen.
The display size does not bother me at all, since as I mentioned the unit has text to speach and technically I do not need to look at it during driving.
I certainly recommend the firmware update which is available when you register you unit with Magellan. Also, if you are a AAA member you get an extended warranty support again by registering through their website.
Overall, I am happy with it.
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